Dismantling of good-old-boy network at water district offers hope | Opinion

If there's a silver lining to the decades of environmental abuse our waters have endured due to mismanagement of Lake Okeechobee, it's this:

The community has grown increasingly savvy about how to respond — and how to force people in positions of power to react.

And, by God, we've seen some real action over the past week.

Nothing epitomizes Florida's sea change in environmental policy more than Gov. Ron DeSantis' dismantling of the good old boy network at the South Florida Water Management District.

The water district is the state's lead agency on Everglades restoration and other environmental projects. It levies property taxes across a 16-county region that includes the most densely populated parts of Florida. And under former Gov. Rick Scott, the district gave too little weight to the environment, and too much to powerful special interests.

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Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, embraces Michael Meier, a Stuart city commissioner, after Thurlow-Lippisch was appointed to the South Florida Water Management District board by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis shakes hands with Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon,Êafter appointing her to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, embraces Cyndi Lenz, of Jensen Beach, after Thurlow-Lippisch was appointed to the South Florida Water Management District board by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, embraces Cyndi Lenz, of Jensen Beach, after Thurlow-Lippisch was appointed to the South Florida Water Management District board by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Sewall's Point, a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, to the South Florida Water Management District board Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart. U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Noah Valenstein and several local dignitaries and environmental advocates were in attendance. LEAH VOSS/TCPALM

Thurlow-Lippisch, whom the governor appointed Thursday, is a Republican and a real estate agent. She's an environmentalist and a blogger. She once tried (unsuccessfully) to unseat a Martin County commissioner popular with developers. Her husband is an amateur pilot, and for years she has documented pollution in the St. Lucie River by taking photos from his plane.

Thurlow-Lippisch is a rabble-rouser in the nicest possible way. Nothing epitomized that more than a suggestion she made in 2013, when a state Senate committee held hearings in Stuart about the crisis in the Indian River Lagoon.

At that meeting, Thurlow-Lippisch, a member of the committee, suggested using eminent domain to take farmland south of Lake Okeechobee if the owners wouldn't sell it to build a southern outlet for the lake water.

"You have the right to take those lands," Thurlow-Lippisch told her fellow committee members that summer, which became known as the Lost Summer of 2013 because the St. Lucie River was so polluted by lake discharges.

"It’s a tough thing," she continued. "It seems un-American to take someone’s land — but at the same time, it’s very American to protect your community."

She said it in such a nice way that even former state Sen. Joe Negron, who has called himself a libertarian, didn't dismiss it outright.

That's Thurlow-Lippisch in a nutshell. Her persistent kill-them-with-kindness approach also helped her get a proposed ban on offshore oil drilling on Florida's 2018 ballot, via her role as a member of the Constitution Revision Commission. Voters approved the ban.

So, to recap: Florida's new Republican governor just appointed a water district board member who once openly advocated for eminent domain to protect our environment.

This isn't Rick Scott's Florida anymore.

But don't get your hopes up about eminent domain (if that's something you're hoping for). State lawmakers ultimately took it off the table in 2017 when they passed Senate Bill 10, authorizing construction of a reservoir and water treatment area south of Lake Okeechobee. As planned, that reservoir will be too small to completely reduce discharges from Lake O to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries — though it will offer incremental relief.

Army Corps sets stage for change

Another reason for optimism this week was the Army Corps of Engineers​​' public meeting on Tuesday.

The corps is the federal agency that controls the flood gates from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers — and it's finally re-evaluating how it manages the lake level. Ever since Hurricane Katrina, it has erred on the side of caution by keeping the lake low during the rainy season, which means dumping polluted water to the rivers.

Yet part of the Army Corps of Engineers' mission is to "reduce risks from disasters," Jensen Beach resident Jackie Trancynger pointed out Tuesday. That should include manmade disasters, she said, like the toxic blue-green algae that is triggered by the Lake O discharges and has threatened human health.

Last weekend, the city of Stuart hosted a public meeting to plan for the Army Corps' meeting. That's what I mean about residents being more savvy.

Fed-up residents know it's not enough to protest en masse and wave signs, as they did for years.

Now, there's more evidence of the public health threat. More scientists joining the fray.

"What men do, they can undo. And the hope for our river is in the hundreds of men and women in our communities who are resolved to save the St. Lucie."

That hope was stagnant for too long. Now, it's rising again.

Eve Samples is opinion and audience engagement editor for Treasure Coast Newspapers, which is part of the USA TODAY Network. Contact her at eve.samples@tcpalm.com or @EveSamples on Twitter.

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